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In the Census 2011, 18,777 people (25% of the population) in Bolsover district declared that their day to day activities were limited due to disability or long term ill health.

Social model of disability

Disability relates to the way society is organised, rather than by a person’s impairment or difference. If we remove barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people they can be independent and equal in society, with choice and control over their own lives.

Reasonable adjustments in services and employment - how we're improving access and opportunities for disabled people

One of the ways in which we are removing barriers and improving opportunities for disabled people is by making sure that we put reasonable adjustments in place. These help us to communicate with and enable disabled people using our services and help us to support our disabled staff.

Action on Hearing Loss is a national charity which offers information and support to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Deaf and Hearing Support is based in Chesterfield. It aims to provide the best quality service for deaf and hearing impaired people in North Derbyshire. You can test various aids at their Resource Centre where they have the latest technology on display.

RNIB offer practical and emotional support to those losing their sight or who are blind or partially sighted.

Sight Support Derbyshire is a local charity which provides services, support and advice and information for registered blind and partially sighted local people.

Mencap is a national charity which works to improve the lives of people with a learning disability and their families.

MIND is a national charity which offers support and information on mental health.

Rhubarb Farm is an agriculture-based environmental social enterprise, based in Langwith, on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border. The Farm uses the therapeutic organic horticulture model to develop skills, confidence and employability, and improve health and well-being.

Bolsover District Council has an Equality & Diversity Policy for Service Delivery which sets out what we expect from our staff, our Councillors and our partners. Our aim is to treat our customers fairly regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We assess our policies for any equality impact on members of the LGBT community and include LGBT issues in our corporate equalities training, which is mandatory for all new employees.

Our partners

Bolsover District Council works with Derbyshire LGBT+ to ensure that we take account of our LGBT community’s needs and learn from best practice. Derbyshire LGBT+ offers a range of social and specialist support services around the county – find out more from their website.

Hate incidents

The Council is committed to tackling hate incidents and hate crimes in the District. If you are experiencing harassment or hate incidents because of your sexuality or gender identity, please don’t hesitate to contact them.

We want our LGBT community to feel confident in reporting hate incidents they have experienced or witnessed and we have a range of ways to help:

It is Council policy to remove any offensive graffiti within 24 hours. Please report it via our Contact Centre on 01246 242424.

Domestic abuse

If you or anyone else is in danger, please call police on 999.

Bolsover Council’s in-house Domestic Abuse service offers information and sensitive support to LGBT people who live in the District. Contact them in confidence – details are available on our Community Safety page.

Derbyshire Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Service is a specialist and experienced provider of domestic abuse services. They are a local charity which offers a range of services appropriate to individual need to help and support women, men and children who are affected by domestic abuse.

Voting

If you have changed your name to reflect your gender identity and wish to change your name on the Electoral Register, you can do so in two ways.

You may re-register online at www.gov.uk/registertovote, however please provide your previous name when completing the application as this helps us to identify any previous registrations you may have, ensuring that you are not registered twice and that your registration period is continuous which may help should you wish to apply for credit in your new name. If you would prefer to not be linked to records in your previous name, please contact us to discuss this, as while we can ensure that here is no continuity between your registrations there are some implications to doing this.

Alternatively, you can contact the Electoral Services Team directly on 01246 242422, who will be happy to help you with the process and will deal with your request confidentially and sensitively. You may be required to provide evidence of your change of name/identity, but the team will be happy to discuss ways in which you can do this.

If you would like to have an informal, confidential conversation about registering or changing your name on the Electoral Register, please do not hesitate to contact the Electoral Services Team, who can talk you through the process and your options.

Working for the Council

The Council introduced monitoring for sexual orientation to ensure that our recruitment and employment practices do not discriminate against LGBT applicants and staff. Not everyone provides this information but year on year, more applicants and existing staff have felt comfortable declaring their sexual orientation. We publish our Workforce Information annually.

Workforce Equality Information 2016

Equality Group

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

Heterosexual

66.60%

66.74%

73.89%

76.70%

Gay, lesbian or bisexual

0.20%

0.23%

0.37%

0.60%

We have a comprehensive Harassment and Bullying Policy and Guidance on Transgender Issues in the Workplace to support our staff. All our employees receive induction training on equality and diversity.

An Equality impact assessment looks at a policy or procedure and sees if it discriminates or is likely to discriminate against somebody because of their Race, Gender, Disability, Age, Sexual Orientation, Religion, Belief and any other likely characteristic.

If it is found that a policy or procedure does discriminate against someone we will do what we can to eliminate, minimise or counterbalance the discrimination.

There are several reasons why we conduct EIAs.. The benefits of impact assessment include:

They help to analyse our services to see if there if reflective representation from our communities

They assist us in considering alternative policies or measures that might address any adverse impact

They help us to improve the way in which we develop our policies and functions by ensuring that they reflect the current equality & diversity legislative framework

They help to identify direct or indirect discrimination

They help us to better understand the needs and aspirations of the diverse communities we serve.

Equalities legalisation has now been extended so there is a statutory duty for gender and disability to conduct equality impact assessments. Our impact assessment process covers gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion and belief as well as race.

A new joint policy has been developed to explain what the law requires from those delivering public services and to support staff in dealing with our customers. The policy was approved by BDC Executive on 3 October 2016.

Equality monitoring is often not carried out because it is believed to be time-consuming, confusing, lacking in purpose or intrusive to customers. This guidance has been developed with these concerns in mind and offers best practice examples to help us get it right.

We have benchmarked our services against national standards for customer insight, organisational culture, information and access, delivery of services, and timeliness and quality of services.

Equality Act 2010: Public sector equality duties The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 came into force on 10 September 2011. Under Section 147(1) of the Act, public bodies are required to show that they meet the public sector equality duties by:

The following data is held by us and will be updated periodically. We have identified some gaps in information about our services and workforce which we are addressing, following an organisational restructure.

Open Government Licence All of our data is available to use or re-use under the Open Government Licence. This is an open licence for public sector bodies to license the use and re-use of their information and data easily. Use of information under the Open Government Licence is free. If you are intending to use or re-use any of our data please note the conditions of the licence. If we require you to make a specific form of attribution, this will be clearly referenced on the information concerned.

Hate crime is crime that the person who has experienced hate crime, or any other person perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards any aspect of a person’s identity. Some hate crime offences carry additional penalties. Derbyshire Police monitor six strands of hate crime:

Disability

Gender identity

Race, nationality or ethnicity

Religion or belief

Sexual orientation

Subculture eg: Goth, Steampunk, Hipster

Our hate crime policy, reporting form and online reporting form can be found below:

A hate incident is any incident, which may or may not be a crime, that the person who experienced hate crime or any other person perceives to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards any aspect of a person’s identity. The police determine whether a hate incident is a crime.

Anyone who experiences or hears about a hate crime or hate incident in the District can report it to the Police or to Stop Hate UK. Reports are used to help those victimised, to bring perpetrators to justice, and to influence our work to stop Hate Crime.

Every incident should be reported, whether it is name calling in the street, damage to property, graffiti, physical assault, or any other type of incident that makes someone feel upset at being targeted. Please report all hate incidents to us immediately so we can investigate them fully.

A safe place is somewhere people with a learning disability can go if they feel scared, are lost or need help when they are out and about. Find out more about the Derbyshire Safe Places Scheme here.

Online hate material

You may come across a lot of material on the internet that offends you, but very little of it is actually illegal. UK laws are written to make sure that people can speak and write, even offensive material, without being prosecuted for their views.

Find out more about what you can do about on-line hate material via the True Vision website here.